House of Lords: Medical Screening for Members

Lord Jopling: asked the Chairman of Committees:
	When medical screening for Members of the House will be introduced.

Lord Tordoff: The House agreed last year that each Member of the House should be offered free medical screening once every three years on a rolling basis. The service will begin on 10 June 2002, under contract with St Thomas' Hospital. Screenings and follow-up interviews will take place in the premises of the Occupational Health and Welfare Service, which will start issuing invitations to Members to make appointments shortly.

Arms Exports

Lord Hylton: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	How they assess the risks that exports of arms and equipment licensed to the following countries may be diverted:
	(a) from Hong Kong to mainland China (which is under existing European Union arms embargo); (b) from Jordan to Iraq;
	(c) from Paraguay to Brazil (illicit sales); and
	(d) from Singapore to other countries.

Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean: We assess all export licence applications on a case-by-case basis against the consolidated EU and national arms export licensing criteria. The consolidated criteria clearly state that we would not issue licences where there is a risk that exports might be diverted to undesirable end-users. The criteria were set out in the answer given by my right honourable friend the Member for Neath to my honourable friend the Member for Crawley on 26 October 2000 (Official Report, Commons; col. 199–203W).
	To assess the risk of diversion we examine open and sensitive source reports, and classified reports from our posts overseas. We have introduced a number of safeguards in order to minimise the risk of diversion; and those measures are under constant review. We do not disclose specific details of our safeguards, as they largely depend on information obtained from sensitive sources which is exempt from disclosure under part 2 section 1 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information.
	With specific reference to the countries you name:
	(a) Officials from FCO, MoD, DTI and HM Customs & Excise undertake regular visits to Hong Kong to see how effectively its export control system is working. On the basis of their visits, we retain confidence in Hong Kong's independent strategic trade controls. Customs procedures are rigorously enforced. As the late Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Mr Derek Fatchett announced on 14 January 1998, in order to fulfil our obligations under the EU embargo on China, goods which we would not approve for export to the Chinese armed forces in mainland China will not be permitted for export for military end-use in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (Official Report, Commons; col. 221W).
	(b) We do not believe it is in Jordan's security interests to divert arms to Iraq now. Although the Jordanian Government have close relations with Iraq, we do not believe they would divert military equipment there. Jordan has consistently supported implementation of UN sanctions.
	(c) When assessing small arms export licence applications for Paraguay, the risk of diversion is carefully considered. Our embassy in Asuncion is asked on each occasion for an assessment of the risk of diversion and, if necessary, to check the bona fides of the proposed end-user locally.
	(d) The Singaporeans are aware that we would be concerned over any diversion and that we would act if we found evidence of it. Our post in Singapore often carries out checks on proposed end-users when a licence application is being considered.

NHS: Patient Contact Measures

Lord Morris of Manchester: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	In the light of recommendation 6.5 in the review of Korner Community Health Services and Cross Sector Returns (November 2000) that commissioners who use "total contacts" should move to more appropriate measures, how many commissioners have now moved to different systems of measurement; and what these systems are.

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: Commissioners, the professions and the Department of Health used total face-to-face contacts as a measure of activity levels. However the review group report on Korner Community Health Services and Cross Sector Returns details the weaknesses of using total contacts with patients as, for example, they represent only a small part of work done and there is no measure of quality of care or outcome. Collection of this information was also seen as particularly burdensome by the professional groups involved in the review. For these reasons, total face-to-face contacts were judged to be ill suited as a measure of workload and the review group recommended that the count of total face-to-face contacts should be abandoned. This recommendation was accepted by Ministers and collection of information about total face-to-face contacts was discontinued for 2000–01.
	Information about first contacts, the number of patients seen in a financial year, and initial contacts, the number of episodes of care in a year, were seen as more useful measures of activity and the review group's recommendation that these should be retained was also accepted by Ministers.
	The review group report also urged commissioners who use total face-to-face contacts to take the opportunity to consider and move to more appropriate measures of activity. This was regarded as a matter for local commissioners and service providers to determine and agree between themselves with due regard to local circumstances. The department has not collected information about these local commissioning arrangements and information about the numbers of commissioners who have moved to different systems of measurement, and what these systems are, is therefore not available centrally. Furthermore, the department would not seek to impose an additional data collection of this nature on the National Health Service where there is no central requirement for the information.

Gambling Review Body: Report

Lord Mancroft: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Whether the information contained in paragraphs 28.38 to 28.41 of the Gambling Review Body's report (Cm 5207) was supplied to the review body by government officials.

Baroness Blackstone: Home Office officials made a summary of the department's view of Pronto lotteries available to the review body's secretariat. But is it not possible to say what information the review body, which was independent of the Government, drew on in preparing its report.

Gambling Review Body: Report

Lord Mancroft: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	What research evidence they have to show that society lotteries with frequent draws have resulted in "uncontrolled or excessive play carrying risks encouraging problem gambling"; and whether they will place that research evidence in the Library of the House.

Baroness Blackstone: The Government are aware of no research evidence on this issue beyond what is set out in the review body's report.

Gambling Review Body: Report

Lord Mancroft: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Whether they will now publish the four submissions out of three hundred to the Gambling Review Body expressing concern about frequent draw lotteries; and whether they will place them in the Library of the House.

Baroness Blackstone: Copies of all submissions to the Government about the review body's report are already in the Library of the House. The four submissions expressing concern about frequent draw lotteries came from the Methodist Church, Camelot, Carlton Clubs and Rank.

Gambling Review Body: Report

Lord Mancroft: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Whether Sir Alan Budd and his colleagues were shown the results of the frequent draw society lotteries in the possession of the Home Office; if not, why not; and whether officials had concluded that those results contained no evidence of uncontrolled or excessive play, over a period of nine months in 800 pubs.

Baroness Blackstone: Inter Lotto (UK), of which the noble Lord was chairman, provided information about Pronto sales in 1997–98 to the Home Office. It was not possible to draw firm conclusions from this information about how individuals were playing Pronto. The Home Office did not provide this information to the Gambling Review Body, on the basis that it was open to Inter Lotto (UK) to do so if it had thought that information to be material, the review body having published at the outset of its work a general invitation to interested bodies to submit evidence.

Gambling Review Body: Report

Lord Mancroft: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Why, in the light of the evidence contained in Chapter 17 of the Gambling Review Body's report (Cm 5207), they are not planning to restrict slot machines while at the same time they are seeking to ban society lotteries with frequent draws.

Baroness Blackstone: The Government have made detailed plans for the future regulation of gaming machines and have set them out in A Safe Bet for Success (Cm 5397). The maximum prize from a gaming machine in a public house is £25 and it will remain at that level. We have recently laid regulations which will increase the maximum possible prize from a society lottery to £200,000.

Union of the Crowns: 400th Anniversary

Lord Hogg of Cumbernauld: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Whether they have any plans to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the Union of the Crowns.

Lord McIntosh of Haringey: The Government have presently no plans to do so.

Jobs

Lord Roberts of Conwy: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	How many jobs were created or safeguarded in the United Kingdom in the year ending 31st March 2002; and
	How many jobs were lost in the United Kingdom in the year ending 31st March 2002.

Lord McIntosh of Haringey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
	Letter to Lord Roberts of Conwy from the executive director of the Office for National Statistics, dated May 2002.
	The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your recent questions about how many jobs were created or safeguarded and how many jobs were lost in the United Kingdom in the year ending 31st March 2002. I am replying in his absence. (HL4515, HL4516)
	The latest data for workforce jobs relate to December 2001.
	
		
			 UK Workforce Jobs Thousands (seasonally adjusted) 
			 December 2000 29411 
			 December 2001 29466 
			 Change between December 2000 
			 and December 2001 55 (0.2 per cent) 
		
	
	These estimates are based on the results of regular sample surveys of employers which count the number of employee jobs supplemented by data on self-employment collected by the Labour Force Survey. The data are published in Statbase on the National Statistics website www.statistics.gov.uk./statbase/tsdataset.asp?vlnk=342 under series identifier DYDC.

Royal Ulster Constabulary

Lord Laird: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	How they will mark the murders of members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary and Royal Ulster Constabulary Reserve since 1969.

Baroness Farrington of Ribbleton: The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland has provided for the establishment of the Royal Ulster Constabulary GC Foundation to mark the sacrifices and honour the achievements of the RUC.
	One of the functions of the foundation is to oversee development of a Garden of Remembrance and a new RUC Museum—this will draw together both projects into a complete "RUC experience" where visitors can reflect on the sacrifices of the RUC as they walk through the Memorial Garden and visit the many exhibits and displays about the RUC and its history in the Museum.
	Tragically, murdered officers leave behind bereft family and friends, and the foundation will undertake joint initiatives with the Widow's Association, Disabled Police Officers' Association and other members of the police family.
	Just as the families will never forget their loved ones, the Government will remember the ultimate sacrifice those murdered officers gave to this community.

Castlereagh Police Complex: Security

Lord Laird: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Further to the Written Answer by the Lord Privy Seal on 13 May (WA 2), which indicated that all staff at Castlereagh police complex were security cleared, whether this includes catering staff; and whether these arrangements are satisfactory.

Baroness Farrington of Ribbleton: The Acting Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland has confirmed that all staff (including catering staff) working at the Castlereagh police complex are security cleared. The arrangements for this security clearance are in accordance with existing best practice.